The city's smoke hadn't even cleared.
The ashes of the Ashen Hand still drifted in the wind.
Yet already, new chains began to close around Maximilian Kriegswald.
Not the visible chains of mortal law.Not even the binding oaths of the University.
No — this time, it was the Tribunal.
The Summons
At midnight, as the wounded city moaned in its sleep, a black summons arrived.
Delivered not by messenger, but by Manifestation.
A robed figure made of living obsidian, with no face, no voice.
Only a single message burned into the air around it:
"Maximilian Kriegswald.By the Will of the Seven Thrones, you are called to answer for your existence.Refusal is annihilation.Attendance is survival."
Lirael, Alwin, Maelis — none could follow him.
This was a summons for him alone.
And Maximilian — battered, burning, but unbroken — answered.
Arrival: The Broken Star Court
The world around him twisted.
In a heartbeat, Flammensang's ruined streets vanished.
He stood now upon a battlefield of fallen statues — titans shattered into dust, their faces twisted in pain.
Above him stretched a sky of endless ruin: broken stars, drifting relics, and dying worlds spinning silently.
This was the Broken Star Court.
Where the hidden rulers of the Divine Universities met.
Where crimes against existence itself were judged.
Seven Thrones stood in a half-circle, each occupied by a different figure:
➤ The Shardfather, wrapped in mirrored glass.➤ The Dawn Matron, cloaked in weeping suns.➤ The Third King, a corpse crowned with living rot.➤ And four more — equally terrible, equally powerful.
Their gazes fell upon him.
And the questioning began.
The Accusations
They spoke without words, thoughts slamming into Maximilian's mind like hammers.
"You have unleashed a Remnant Entity within mortal bounds.""You bear a relic of the Primordial Stars without sanction.""You have disrupted the Balance."
And the unspoken accusation underneath it all:
"You exist in defiance of what we control."
They demanded surrender.
➤ Surrender the Starfire Remnant.➤ Bind himself under Divine Chains.➤ Swear loyalty to the Seven Thrones.
Or face Oblivion.
Maximilian's Choice
Maximilian lifted his head.
The wounds on his body still smoked.
His soul howled from the battle.
Yet his voice was clear:
"No."
The Court shook.
Planets in the sky shattered.
The Third King rose, skeletal and furious, drawing a blade of dead starlight.
The others prepared to erase him — to unmake him down to the last atom of his being.
But Maximilian was no longer only mortal.
The Starfire Remnant within him sang.
And the world changed.
Lore Drop: The Origin of the Starbearers
➤ In the First Creation, before gods, before systems, before even fate — there were the Starbearers.➤ Mortals chosen by the cosmic fires themselves, bound not by Divinity, but by Existence.➤ Starbearers could deny divine will. Rewrite systems. Challenge even the Thrones.
➤ They were thought extinct.
Until Maximilian.
Until now.
The Duel at the Edge of Existence
The Third King lunged.
Maximilian met him.
Starfire against Deathlight.
The Court shook with every clash, echoes of their duel causing entire broken worlds to fall from the sky.
The Shardfather summoned mirrored prisons to trap Maximilian — he shattered them.
The Dawn Matron wept comets of sorrow to crush him — he burned through them.
The Thrones realized too late:
He wasn't just a threat.
He was a Revelation.
Betrayal: The Hidden Knife
Amid the chaos, one Throne moved differently.
The Seventh Seat — The Silent Bishop.
It approached Maximilian with an offer whispered between battles:
"Accept my Mark. You may survive. You may even ascend.Refuse... and you will die here, a footnote in the ashes."
The Bishop extended a black seal — a parasite of obedience.
It was betrayal in its purest form:An offer of survival at the cost of freedom.
Maximilian looked into the abyss of that seal.
And made his second choice that night.
He crushed it in his hand.
Consequences
The Tribunal shattered.
The Broken Star Court cracked down the middle, light bleeding from its core.
The Seven Thrones screamed as reality twisted.
Maximilian was flung back into the material world, landing atop the broken gates of Flammensang.
Alive.
Free.
Hunted.
The war for his soul had officially begun.
Item Profile Update: Starfire Remnant (Stage 3 Evolution)
➤ State: Symbiotic Revelation – Stage 3/7➤ Effects:• Reality Severance — once per battle, negate a single Divine-based attack.• Stellar Halo — passive shield generating around user, absorbing minor spells automatically.• Celestial Defiance — user cannot be divinely compelled or bound by divine oaths.
➤ Drawback:• Visible Stellar Aura — user now emits cosmic energy detectable across realms.• Cosmic Judgement pending — enemies from other dimensions may begin targeting the user.
Final Scene: The Warning
As Maximilian stumbled to his feet, Lirael and Maelis rushed to him.
He was barely conscious, blood and starlight dripping from him.
But before he collapsed, he whispered one thing:
"The Thrones are coming.And they won't come alone."
Above the broken city, new constellations ignited.
Strange stars, burning in patterns no mortal had ever seen.
And from the edges of existence, ancient things began to stir.
Watching.
Waiting.
Hungering.
End of Chapter 37: The Tribunal of Broken Thrones